The Australian Over 60s men’s cricket team, currently touring India, have helped launch a massive health campaign in Chennai.
They are in India to compete in the International Masters Cricket 2024 World Cup. In an early engagement however, they’ve teamed up with India Vision Institute (IVI), the NGO working to provide access to vision screening to launch a new campaign – to screen 50,000 vulnerable people for vision, and present a pair of corrective glasses to those in need.
The team, led by Captain Peter Jensen and manager David Head, helped launch the campaign in Semmancheri, Chennai: it is aimed at screening for presbyopia, and to raise awareness of it and of ways to address the problem.
Presbyopia is a refractive error that makes it difficult for middle-aged and older adults to see things close to them.
The campaign, which will run from March to May this year, will work to raise awareness on presbyopia and of ways to address the problem.
Welcoming the visiting Aussies, IVI’s CEO Vinod Daniel OAM said, “It is known that some 33% of the population in India is affected by presbyopia. Despite its widespread prevalence and impact, there is a lack of understanding and awareness of the condition. With corrected vision, through a simple pair of reading glasses, will come increased productivity, higher income and a better quality of life.”
“The campaign will work in partnership with other organisations, leveraging their strengths for maximum outreach and outcome,” Mr Daniel added.
In January this year, IVI reached the one million mark in its free vision screenings. Vinod Daniel, an Australian citizen was facilitated with the OAM in 2023.
The touring Aussie cricketers, like other visitors at IVI, participated in distributing spectacles to visually impaired children and adults from underprivileged communities.
They are set to play ten games at the second International Masters Over-60s Cricket World Cup which is currently on (February 18 – March 4).
READ MORE: IVI donates one millionth pair of corrective glasses